Apparatus for building concrete block walls

ABSTRACT

An apparatus having a framework of interconnecting members adapted for building a pair of concrete walls thereon on a production basis and then transporting the walls to the building site. A pair of parallel base members, which are prealigned, allow the concrete wall to be built thereon whereby spilled cement on the interior of the block will fall between a spacing between the parallel members. Vertical mambers attached to the base members have predetermined marking relative to the aligned parallel base members for attaching lines between for aligning each tier of block. Horizontal members are attached to the vertical members and may have markings thereon for measuring the length of the wall. Lifting members allow each wall to be lifted from the apparatus and loaded on the truck for transporting to a building site.

United States Patent [1 1 [111 3,881,714

Wilnau May 6, 1975 APPARATUS FOR BUILDING CONCRETE Primary ExaminerRoy Lake BLOCK WALLS John A. Wilnau, PO. Box 1308, Orlando, Fla. 32802 Filed: Nov. 16, 1973 Appl. No.2 416,359

Inventor:

US. Cl. 269/13; 33/85; 52/749; 269/296; 269/321 S Int. Cl. E04g 21/18; E04g 21/22 Field of Search 33/85, 86, 180 R; 52/747, 52/749; 269/l9, 307, 321 S, 13, 296

Assistant Examiner-Neil Abrams Attorney, Agent, or FirmDuckworth, Hobby & Allen An apparatus having a framework of interconnecting members adapted for building a pair of concrete walls thereon on a production basis and then transporting the walls to the building site. A pair of parallel base members, which are prealigned, allow the concrete wall to be built thereon whereby spilled cement on the interior of the block will fall between a spacing between the parallel members. Vertical mambers attached to the base members have predetermined marking relative to the aligned parallel base members for attaching lines between for aligning each tier of block. Horizontal members are attached to the vertical members and may have markings thereon for mea- ABSTRACT suring the length of the wall. Lifting members allow 1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures li ht APPARATUS FOR BUILDING CONCRETE BLOCK WALLS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for the assembly of concrete block walls at an assembly plant and then transporting the walls to a building site.

In the past there have been a great many systems for prefabricating building units including the prefabrication of whole building modules, as well as a great variety of apparatus and methods for prefabricating individual building components. Typical of these prior art building systems are apparatus and methods for assembling roof truss for shipment to the building site; factory methods for assembling walls, door frames, window units and even for assembling a complete package of prefabricated units for the assembly of a building at the building site. Many of these buildings require pouring of a foundation at the building site prior to delivery of the components for assembling the building.

The present application is directed towards an apparatus for assembling concrete block walls on a production basis which may be assembled at a block plant or at a concrete mixing plant. The apparatuses are lined up, and each wall built to specifications as to length, height and with a specified end portion for attaching the wall to corners or to an abutting end of another wall. The point of attaching corners and abutting ends forms a mold to form supporting pilasters in the walls and the corners. In practice the assembled units are loaded on a truck and transported to the building site of a motel, apartment building, or the like. A draftsman makes a layout for the building of the walls and determines the number of wall sections of each type to be assembled for a particular building. Some walls will have windows or doors located therein and will be adapted for corner attachments while others will be provided for abutting attachments to another wall section. After a group of wall sections is assembled they are lifted from the apparatus and loaded on a special rack attached to a truck and transported to the building site where they may be lifted from the truck by crane, or the like, and placed upon a foundation which would typically have protruding anchoring members and then grouted to the foundation and the pilasters poured at the predetermined points, and the remainder of the building assembled and finished. Special blocks are utilized to provide the necessary interconnection between the wall portions so as to also provide the structural pilasters for the building.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing concrete block walls or portions thereof, having a base frame with two pairs of parallel elongated base members spaced apart for building a concrete block wall upon while allowing cement to fall to the inside of the blocks through the blocks and through the space between the pairs of base members. Vertical members are attached to the base frame and horizontal frame members are attached to the vertical frame members and provide spacing support for the vertical members. The base frame members are aligned to be parallel to each other and are leveled and made perpendicular to the vertical members. The vertical members and horizontal members may then be marked off so that lines may be attached for aligning tiers of blocks and for providing measurements for different lengths of wall. Attachable wall lifting members are coordinated with the frame to allow the walls to be lifted from the framework and loaded upon racks on transporting trucks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from a study of the written description and the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus in accordance with the present invention, having a concrete block wall partially assembled thereon;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end plan view of the apparatus in accordance with FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is a side plan view of the apparatus in accordance with FIGS. 1 through 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a concrete block wall forming apparatus 10 has a portion of a concrete block wall 11 being built thereon. The apparatus 10 has a pair of parallel elongated base members 12 on one side and a second set of parallel base members 13 located on the opposite side for building the walls 11 directly upon. Parallel support base members 12 have been preleveled and are attached and supported by ground supports or feet 14 extending perpendicular to the frame members 12 and 13. The end ground support members 14 have elongated vertical extended members 15 attached thereto at either end thereof and also between the two ends as desired. The elongated vertical members in addition have a pair of horizontal members 16 intermediate of the end of the vertical members 15 connecting the vertical members. A second set of horizontal extending members 17 are located near the top of the vertical extending members 15. A bottom block aligning member 18 is connected between the vertical members 15 on the outside next to the base rails 12, and might also be attached to one of the base support members 12 and 13. A series of slots 20 are located on the two end vertical members 15 for attaching a line between the two end members for aligning each tier or row of block 11 in building the wall.

It should of course be clear that the slots 20 could be other marks as desired with or without means for holding the line, the line being either tied around the vertical members 15, slid into special slots 20, or held with C-clamps, or the like, but in each case allows the quick movement of the line from one tier to the next tier in rapidly building up the wall 11. A second set of marks 21 located on the horizontal member 16 and on the elongated rail 18 allow a rapid indication of the length of a particular wall section.

The present concrete wall building apparatus 10 will generally be operated in groups with each apparatus 10 making two walls or sections of walls at a time. Concrete wall 11 is assembled by having the first row of concrete block placed directly on the space parallel bars 12 or 13 against the back railing l8 and then the wall built up by an individual mason while moving his individual line markets, such as a string, from on set of marks 20 to the next to align the blocks for the wall. As the mason lays each layer of block, cement tends to drop through the openings 22 of the blocks and would normally accumulate on the bottom of the wall but the raised members 12 have the slotted opening 23 therebetween which allows this cement to fall below the. rail 12 where it can be cleaned out and will not interfere with the grouting of the bottom section of the wall to a foundation at the building site. Wall sections may be made with windows and doors as specified and each end or section has both ends with block that have been opened on their side, so that the end section of the block can be placed together to form a mold for the pilasters and this area may be poured with concrete having reinforcing members already put in place to form the structural pilasters of the building both at the corners and at intermediate sections as required by the design. Thus, a great variety of wall sections can be made simultaneously at the assembly plant so that all of the materials can be rapidly placed, leveled and assembled for use at the building site. The walls, once the cement is sufficiently cured, may be loaded onto a truck which has a special rack built on the back thereof for holding groups of wall sections for transport to the building site. The lifting is accomplished with a clamp member 24 which has a curved top portion and elongated sides 25 to act in a tweezers fashion to be squeezed together to slid into the openings 22 at each end of the wall section. The wall carrier member 24 has curved or hook portions 26 at each end of the curved member so that when the member is inserted and released it will engage the bottom of the wall 1 1, thereby allowing hooks from a crane to engage the curved portion of members 24 and lift the wall off the rack and load it onto a truck. The wall building section 10 can be advantageously built economically while producing a more accurate, as well as substantially faster constructed concrete block wall.

Turning now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the present invention is illustrated in top, end and side views each having the ground support members 14 which form a part of the base portion of the apparatus 10 along with pairs of wall support members 12 and 13 attached to the base members 14 and levelled so that the base layer of concrete block can be immediately laid and levelled relative to the rest of the apparatus. Thus, the vertically extending members 15 are perpendicular and leveled relative to the members 12 and 13, as are horizontal members 18 so that the markings 20 on vertical members 15 and the markings 21 on the horizontal members 16 will be in perfect alignment for building each wall. A plurality of horizontal end members 27 may also be utilized to give additional rigidity to the apparatus 10.

It should be clear at this point that an apparatus for the production and assembly of concrete block walls at a factory or assembly site has been provided which apparatus can be moved between assembly sites, if desired, and operates to increase the efficiency of assembly of block walls for building of buildings of all types which might utilize block walls.

This invention, however, is not to be construed as limited to the particular forms illustrated herein inasmuch as these are to be considered illustrative rather than restricted.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for manufacturing concrete block walls upon, the walls having vertical openings passing therethrough, comprising in combination:

a. base frame portion having two pairs of parallel elongated base members each pair spaced apart from end to end by an unobstructed space for building a pair of concrete block walls upon while allowing cement to fall from the inside of the blocks through the block and through the space between said pair of base members and allowing lifting members to be extended under a portion of said wall for lifting said wall;

b. said base frame having vertical frame members attached thereto;

0. said base frame having horizontal frame members attached to said vertical frame members and providing support for said vertical members, at least two horizontal support members acting as ground support members supporting said pairs of parallel elongated base members to provide space there=between when said apparatus is placed upon a surface, the base frame providing an unobstructed slot under the central area of the walls for most of the length of the walls;

d. spacing marks located on at least two vertical frame members to locate a levelling line between for aligning tiers of concrete block wall;

e. said spacing marks on said vertical frame members having means for attaching a line at predetermined points on said vertical frame members, and said vertical frame members being spaced to mark the most common wall lengths; and

f. at least one horizontal frame member having markings thereon for locating the length of a wall section being built upon said apparatus whereby a concrete block wall can be built upon said apparatus and removed for transportation and anchoring to a foundation for forming the walls of a building. 

1. An apparatus for manufacturing concrete block walls upon, the walls having vertical openings passing therethrough, comprising in combination: a. base frame portion having two pairs of parallel elongated base members each pair spaced apart from end to end by an unobstructed space for building a pair of concrete block walls upon while allowing cement to fall from the inside of the blocks through the block and through the space between said pair of base members and allowing lifting members to be extended under a portion of said wall for lifting said wall; b. said base frame having vertical frame members attached thereto; c. said base frame having horizontal frame members attached to said vertical frame members and providing support for said vertical members, at least two horizontal support members acting as ground support members supporting said pairs of parallel elongated base members to provide space there between when said apparatus is placed upon a surface, the base frame providing an unobstructed slot under the central area of the walls for most of the length of the walls; d. spacing marks located on at least two vertical frame members to locate a levelling line between for aligning tiers of concrete block wall; e. said spacing marks on said vertical frame members having means for attaching a line at predetermined points on said vertical frame members, and said vertical frame members being spaced to mark the most common wall lengths; and f. at least one horizontal frame member having markings thereon for locating the length of a wall section being built upon said apparatus whereby a concrete block wall can be built upon said apparatus and removed for transportation and anchoring to a foundation for forming the walls of a building. 